ESA

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

ESA is a song about math, statistics, and the formulae and calculations governing our lives and choices. It’s about the decisions we make given those pressures, and, to some degree, it’s about the slow, steady colonization of our lives. By the man.

ESA by Mappa Mundi

I like chromatic writing a lot. I like the uneasy, shifting feeling that changing harmonies by creeping half steps gives. One can use a pedal tone (or in this case, a tone that gets passed from part to part), while having the harmonic colors shift around it. There’s also some intentional dissonance leading into each chorus, signaling a change in harmonic structure and feel. I think I’m borrowing some of the feel and color of Erik Satie or Claude Debussy (two favorites), especially in the piano sound.

A huge thanks is owed to Mappa Mundians Suzanne Lipkin (violin), and Jason Sagebiel (guitar). Suzanne’s violin tone is so bright and Jason’s guitar has so much bite to it, and both of them nailed fairly tricky parts. Jason, in particular, had to play two parts simultaneously: the chordal hits and the subsequent cello line. I think it’s a cool effect, and it was his idea to do both.

I also added the now trademark distorted, echoing, Pulp-or-Radiohead-esque ukulele sound. Even more Radiohead-esque, I think, is the distorted, ringing tremolo part in the chorus, which is really a violin played through a few effects. Underneath it all is a beat featuring sonar pings, distorted, echoing snare hits and booming (in a good way) kick. I may upload the beat at some point. For academic purposes, naturally.

Lastly, the outro is indebted yet again to Ligeti as much as Phillip Glass, John Adams, or Terry Reilly. It’s composed of strict patterns, each in their own time signatures, phasing with each other, and rejoining every two or four measures. It starts somewhat simply, but as each part comes in separately, it ultimately builds in a unison crescendo, culminating in that ambient ukulele noise. And then, nothing.

Enjoy!

(As always downloading and sharing is encouraged using the buttons on the player).

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Dancing on My Own

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

I am an unabashed fan of pop music, as I’ve mentioned. Pop is the intersection of many influences and musical traditions, and it’s able to take freely from those roots. In recent years, Robyn has become one of the best examples of that.

Dancing on My Own by Mappa Mundi

She started in the 90s as a teen pop star, but since then, she has become something much more interesting. Her story of struggling against her label and wanting to put out more personally-felt material is not uncommon. What’s interesting is that what she puts out now, on her own Konichiwa Records, is a rare combination of raw dance/electronic beats, synthesizers, beautiful orchestral arrangements, and honest, immediate songs. The electro-pop she produces is glitchy, symphonic, and emotive (not to mention danceable), in the same vein as fellow Swedes, The Knife, or Röyksopp. Plus, you have to respect anyone who can consistently crank out catchy hooks like she can. Her Body Talk trilogy is fantastic but I recommend 2005’s Robyn. Every song on it is great but “Be Mine!,” “With Every Heartbeat,” “Bum Like You,” and “Who’s That Girl?” are amazing! “Be Mine!” hooked me instantly.

So, I decided to cover one of her recent hits, “Dancing on My Own,” a perfect pop song, all 4-0n-the-floor dance beats, sparkly synth arpeggios, and reverb, about loneliness, loss, and dancing. You should know by now that I’m a sucker for catchy tunes about heartache.

As this is the first cover we’ve posted, please do let me know what you think, in the comments. I’m pretty proud of the beat I wrote too. My first foray into such electronic territory was fun (I took the drum machine sounds and effected them using fuzzy distortion, tons of delay, and reverb). I may have to do more…

Lastly, a shout-out, again, to our fabulous fiddler, Suzanne Lipkin, who nailed the violin part, as usual. The final product, I think, is a blend of folk, electro, 90s alt-rock, chamber pop, and, of course some Ligetti-esque tone clusters in the bridge. For good measure.

Please do download and share using the buttons on the player!

 

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Maybe Stay

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

“Maybe Stay” is my ode to indecision. As the fellow says, “the life which is unexamined is not worth living.” The problem, of course, is that, in poring too closely over every detail, you can become immobilized by indecision. And what do you do when, upon examination, none of your choices seem that great? I think another fellow said something to that effect. Well, this song is for those of us who look too closely for our own good.

Maybe Stay by Mappa Mundi

It’s also inspired by one of the great, cult, brilliant-but-cancelled shows of all time, Wonderfalls. Combining magical realism, and early 2000s-era (and early 20s) angst, it was about a recent college graduate facing just such impossible (re: simultaneously stultifying and existentially horrifying) choices. So, this song is for Jaye Tyler too.

I’d love to hear what you think of the vintage distortion and delay on the ukulele. It struck me as being very 90s, which seemed appropriate. Also, the trumpet has some nice slapback reverb on it, which is a sound I’m more and more into these days. Finally, I was going for a sort of wall of sound in the outro, but, of course, as usual, it came out more Beatlesy with Radiohead-y wailing vocals (all right, I was going for that too). Anyway, what can you do? It’s in my DNA, I suppose.

Enjoy! As usual, downloading and sharing is enabled using the buttons on the player.

 

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What Have You Done?

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

“What Have You Done?” is a newer song about my love of pop music, and all the yearning, subversion, and angst that goes with it. We all want to find something that will prove that our lives and our choices are meaningful, but at the same time, fanatical devotion to that search, at the expense of using your time here to its fullest, can ruin you. This song is about that paradox.

What Have You Done? by Mappa Mundi

An important element of pop has always been the borrowing of bits from other forms and traditions, be they blues, rock, or classical music, as George Martin did with the Beatles. So, it’s fitting that this arrangement is a bit of an ode to him. I tend to gravitate toward crystalline arrangements, by which I mean arrangements comprised of intricately interlocking parts and contrapuntal melodies, the sum total of which becomes a thrumming monolith of sound, greater than any one of its parts. If you listen carefully, though, you should be able to pick out one of the various counter-melodies. I’ve mentioned my love of minimalism, but I also love the baroque period for that reason. In addition to Martin, I had post-Beatles-y songwriters in mind like Jon Brion, or Elliott Smith, and also composers like György Ligeti.

This also marks my first foray into the world of Logic. I tried to do some nifty tricks with surround sound, to make the song feel more 3 dimensional. You should hear the “cello” guitar line, the “violin 2,” and “violin 1″ lines coming from the distant left, right, and center respectively, as well as the oboe and bassoon lines. I’m not sure it worked. None of us castaways crashed on this island with state of the art surround-sound speakers so I don’t think it translated in the conversion process. Oh well, no matter. All the more reason to come to one of our shows!

Enjoy! As always, downloading, and sharing are enabled using the buttons on the player.

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A Blunt Object, Oh Robert

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

I have mentioned that I love to write method songs. That is to say, to get into the head of a character I’m interested in and ask myself what I might think in his/her shoes. “A Blunt Object, Oh Robert” is about J. Robert Oppenheimer and his involvement with the Manhattan Project. I’ve been somewhat obsessed with him ever since seeing John Adams’ amazing opera, Dr. Atomic. John Adams is a bit of a hero of mine, (sorry Phil and Steve…oh, ok, I love you guys too…), for his totally free (and gorgeous) use of minimalist, romantic and serialist influences. So, this song is definitely an homage to that work (see the intro and choruses) but it’s also just my take on the story and the character. I also had this iconic photo of him in mind from the fantastic Phillipe Halsman series of people jumping (via The Photography Post).

I became obsessed with thinking about Oppenheimer’s story as a metaphor for the artist. He was a true, old-fashioned, renaissance man, as well-read in poetry, philosophy, and history, as he was in physics. He might have pursued poetry or philosophy but he was in love with physics, and by all accounts was incredibly, intellectually ambitious. He was not a hawk and was torn between his intellectual desire to open the door in front of him, and his fears about creating such a massively destructive weapon. These twin desires of creation and destruction often go hand in hand: the desire to build up and to tear down. You can explore both – as an artist – to fruitful results, regardless. It takes on a different tone for an atomic physicist.

A Blunt Object, Oh Robert by Mappa Mundi

Musically, I tried to evoke the southwest, where the development and testing took place, as well as the precise, cyclical, contrapuntal movements of a watch. Most importantly, I tried to capture the paradoxical, twin feelings of exhilaration and dread he must have been feeling when he watched the bomb go off for the first time. He is reported as quoting from the Bhagavad Gita, “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

SPOILER ALERT: Please do listen to the song all the way through before I tell you that the explosion/thunder sound, and distant foghorn/alarm immediately following the “siren” coda of the trumpet and violin, is created by nothing more than the trumpet and air. I dropped it digitally a number of octaves, and ran it through tons of distortion and some delay. The explosion itself is just breath, air, and ambient sound distorted, compressed and made extra loud. The foghorn/alarm is the trumpet.

Lastly, the incredible fiddle work is thanks to Mappa Mundi violinist, Suzanne Lipkin. She captured exactly the fervor and rue the song needed.

As always, please let me know what you think in the comments. Downloading and sharing is encouraged and enabled using the buttons on the player.

 

 

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Ohiosong

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

And now, without further ado, my head still ringing with samba and caipirinhas, I give you “Ohiosong.”

Ohiosong by Mappa Mundi

Unfortunately, this is one of those songs that’s really better left unexplained. It’s intentionally vague so that the listener can bring his/her own experiences to it. I will say that it is about certain moments that sometimes color the others around them. Also, if you like, it’s a bit of a bittersweet ode to small, liberal arts colleges in Ohio. Maybe it’s about a certain bright, pearly, indigo color that the sky can become on some nights, when the moon is huge and the clouds all brush the treetops and reflect its silvery hue. Maybe.

It’s really time I found some good way to record the string parts. This song was originally intended to have this great cacophonous outro. Crashing cymbals, flute, oboe, swells of strings, dissonant, colorful, harmonies. But that dream has become something of a white whale. If/when we do a proper recording of this I’ll make this happen though, come hell or high water. Anyway, for now I have the piano playing the violin and cello parts. For what it’s worth, these were written specifically for those instruments. I wanted to make use of some extended technique stuff, like sliding on a single string to evoke the “whining” or “sighing” sounds you sometimes hear on a Chinese Erhu, or even some Appalachian fiddle music.

And I’ve tried finding the right degree of compression to bring out all the warmth and richness of the acoustic instruments used. It’s an irony of recording these days (at least in my experience) that that acoustic warmth is so hard to capture, while digitally it gets easier and easier to fake.

Enjoy! As always, downloading and sharing is enabled and encouraged using the buttons on the player.

 

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Cannibals!

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

Dear Mappa Mundians,

I hope this message finds you safe. Due to a shortage of bottles and a recent spate of cannibal attacks we will be somewhat delayed in sending this week’s Song of the Fortnight. I am, of course, distraught about this but never fear, faithful readers! A new post is very soon forthcoming. I shall report more as events transpire. In the meantime take care of yourselves, each other, and remain strong!

Yours faithfully,
Adam
MM

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Mirabelle

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

“Mirabelle” was inspired by the novella, Shopgirl, by Steve Martin. I like to write songs about moments of transition. Be they moments of decision or indecision, I think we experience the sublime in those moments: all the weight and expanse of existence, literally every possible choice, is open to you. That’s terrifying but also liberating. Whether you believe that we’re programmed by our experiences, conditioning and biology to make certain choices or whether you believe that we are existentially free, choosing, agents, (that every step is a choice you alone are making), there’s a vertiginous sense of terror/wonder involved, and I think that makes for good art. Or maybe I should say, that those are the moments I like a song to live in. So, even though this song is written from the point of view of a character in the middle of a breakup, about her loneliness, fear, and ambivalence, it’s really about choice. As is everything.

Mirabelle by Mappa Mundi

Musically, it’s all about the lydian mode (built on the 4th of the tonic scale). You might say it’s sort of a love letter to the lydian mode but I do tend to use those sounds a lot. What can I say? I like the tension. If music is all about tension and release, then I like to draw out the tension, make it pretty or agitating in a way that gets under your skin, and then resolve it hopefully in an interesting way.

Also, since a lot of these songs were originally written on piano (which is how I usually start), I wanted the piano to play a significant role in this. It’s playing a combination of the bass, cello and violin parts, including the counterpoint that gets passed from the cello to the violin.

Lastly, a word on recording. I’m learning as I go. That’s one of the points of this series. So, I’m experimenting with compression right now which has its pluses and minuses. Pluses: it can get more richness out of a recorded instrument. Minuses: well, I like the way this guy says it. Thoughts? My thinking is that it’s like nearly everything. Neither good nor bad, just what you do with it.

As always, downloading and sharing are encouraged. Just use the buttons on the player.

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No More

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

“No More” sprang to life, fully-formed, through a process of spontaneous generation. Usually my writing process involves lots of trial and error and experimentation but every once in a while, a song (verses, choruses, and all) just appears fully, or nearly-fully formed.

No More by Mappa Mundi

Lyrically, I’d been playing with the idea of jettisoning the ideas we carry that tether us, as it were. Ballast. This song is intentionally open-ended so I’m a little reluctant to go into its “meaning.” But I will say that: there are things that keep us down, and things that, the letting go of which, unmoor us. Is it good to be unmoored or better to be connected? I guess it depends on what you’re leaving and where you’re going. Hence the title of our first EP!

Also, I’ve always been a fan of Motown, as well as the Wall of Sound (sworn enemies, I know, but what are you gonna do?). So, I think of many of these songs as having baroque elements but also rich, romantic, layered sections too. Even those bits, though, are comprised of intricately locking complimentary parts. Complexity within Simplicty. Or vice versa. Whatever. At least that’s the goal. This is especially evident when all the parts involved (strings, accordion, etc.) are present. These recordings are smaller-scale versions of that idea but, again, check out the album version of this song for a good example!

As always, downloading and sharing is available through the buttons on the player. And comments are also encouraged!

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Cool

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Mappa Mundi

“Cool” is the obligatory song about dating, about that excited feeling when you meet someone with whom you click, but then, the next day at work, when you both are working the same shift, you realize that it was all in your head. And then things at your day job are suddenly totally uncomfortable for everyone involved. Yeah… Clearly I had been listening to a lot of old, 90s-era Weezer songs when I wrote it.

Cool by Mappa Mundi

This is another older song that was written as a poppy rock song and then, when I got the idea for this crazy Chamber Pop experiment stuck in my head, was reworked in true Mappa Mundi fashion, with string arrangements, ukulele, etc. I had the cello doing parallel 5ths like the guitar might do in rock, and the violin playing what might be a lead guitar part. The verses are in that folk-y baroque style that we often mine. You’ll see what I mean when you listen to the album version of this song: http://mappamundi.bandcamp.com/.

The nature of this blog being what it is, I’ve tried reverse-engineering the song back to a rock song, though with weird, distorted trumpet and ukulele of course! As always, downloading and sharing are enabled through the buttons on the player.

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